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Silicon Curing Time


damoq

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Hi all,

I am about to silicone a 3d background to one of my tanks and was wondering exactly how long til i can fill the tank back up and add fish etc!

It is a flat background, not the ones with large lumps and bumps so I'm not having to worry about water being caught behind the background and becoming stagnant so in theory it should be a really easy job and it won't need a really thick layer of silicone!

Any advice from previous experience appreciated!

Cheers,

Damo

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3 days is plenty of time before you add water

Do you reckon that will be enough time?? The drama i have is that i am putting a colony of wild caught kapampa frontosa in the tank and i really can't afford to make any mistakes :no: $$$$$ :bye:

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Hi Damoq

Hope u are realised that WC Kapampa frontosa is very hard to find now. Hope you dont do anything wrong to them.

i was using silicon V60 to re-seal my tanks, only 8 hours later i added water back into the tank and it's perfect. Very recommend you to use this brand Damoq.

Cheers

Peter

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Hi Damoq

Hope u are realised that WC Kapampa frontosa is very hard to find now. Hope you dont do anything wrong to them.

i was using silicon V60 to re-seal my tanks, only 8 hours later i added water back into the tank and it's perfect. Very recommend you to use this brand Damoq.

Cheers

Peter

Hi Peter how are you mate??

Yeah i realise they are hard to get and very expensive now so thats why i don't want to make any mistakes!!

Where can i buy some of the v60 silicone from??

Thanks for your help guys!

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Most acetic silicone require a curing time of 5-7 days for it to reach maximum tensile strength. You don't require the same level of tensile strength for putting in the background as you do if you are making a tank.

Bostik V60 is an neutral cure silicone and the manufacturer does not recommend that it is used in aquariums.

Bostik V2 is recommended for aquariums but once again has a 5-7 day cure time. Other brands to look at are GE and Dow Corning

HB Fuller produce a acetic aquarium safe silicone called HBF 620 which has a cure time of 24 hours per 3mm

See below for detail.

http://hbfuller.com.au/index2.php?page=shop.getfile&file_type=TDS&product_id=330&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=111

I have used silicone in sumps and refilled after 48 hours but I don't know if it would risk my WCs.

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If it was me, although your not concerned about the strength you need to be courses about what nasty's come out of the silicon while curing. Follow the manufactures instructions to the letter and if it says 5-7days I would be giving it the latter.

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Most acetic silicone require a curing time of 5-7 days for it to reach maximum tensile strength. You don't require the same level of tensile strength for putting in the background as you do if you are making a tank.

Bostik V60 is an neutral cure silicone and the manufacturer does not recommend that it is used in aquariums.

Bostik V2 is recommended for aquariums but once again has a 5-7 day cure time. Other brands to look at are GE and Dow Corning

HB Fuller produce a acetic aquarium safe silicone called HBF 620 which has a cure time of 24 hours per 3mm

See below for detail.

http://hbfuller.com....mart&Itemid=111

I have used silicone in sumps and refilled after 48 hours but I don't know if it would risk my WCs.

Thanks for good Info Ged.

I was used only Bostik V60 to seal for all my tanks and has no problems with it and all my relative working in glass industry use it everyday for their work. But it's only my opinion, some people may has better ideas :), please sharing around.

Damoq, Bostik V60 normally sale at almost hardware shop. But they dont sale in Bunning warehouse, try Mitre 10 or any hardware.

Cheers

Peter

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If it was me, although your not concerned about the strength you need to be courses about what nasty's come out of the silicon while curing. Follow the manufactures instructions to the letter and if it says 5-7days I would be giving it the latter.

I'm with Ben.

If you absolutely cannot wait to pick the fish up for whatever reason - leave the background out of the tank.

Is it really worth the risk?

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If it was me, although your not concerned about the strength you need to be courses about what nasty's come out of the silicon while curing. Follow the manufactures instructions to the letter and if it says 5-7days I would be giving it the latter.

I'm with Ben.

If you absolutely cannot wait to pick the fish up for whatever reason - leave the background out of the tank.

Is it really worth the risk?

You guys are both right!! I already have the fish so I'm not waiting for them but i have to house them somewhere while i get this job done and obviously i don't want to take too many risks cause these fish are worth thousands and almost impossible to replace!!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback!

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